'Rez' receives a virtual reality face lift, Tetsuya Mizuguchi introduces the world to Area X
It was in 2001 when Tetsuya Mizuguchi first introduced “Rez,” a shooter music video game that was released first for Sega and then the PlayStation 2. Now, more than a decade later, the game is getting a virtual reality facelift in “Rez Infinite.”
“Rez Infinite” introduces a new stage to the franchise, called Area X. And PlayStation VR seems to be the perfect console match to Mizuguchi’s vision. He wanted to release multiple particles and have players interact with these particles and the music.
What is arguable most amazing about “Rez Infinite” and Area X is that there is hardly any feeling of nausea when playing. Unlike most VR games, the game creates a strange sense of stability during the unchanged experience in exploring outer space.
Area X allows players to float wherever they desire, and the characters respond accordingly to the new environment. “Now it's possible to generate tons of particles, and particles moving with the music and sounds,” Mizuguchi told Ars Technica. “You can hear the colours! The particles blending together.”
Watch "Rez Infinite: Area X" trailer
Mizuguchi’s last release was “Child Of Eden” in 2011, and he admits to Kotaku that he enjoyed his time away from the gaming industry. He threw himself into learning how to surf and teaching university classes, but a development in gaming pulled him back. “I was recharging, but VR brought me back,” he told the publication. “As soon as I put on the headset, I saw it: ‘Rez.’”
He went on to say that he felt the limitation in technology after “Child Of Eden,” and that he was waiting for it to catch up to his vision. Virtual reality was the development that pushed Mizuguchi to move once again. In addition, it is the pace at which VR is growing that excites him. “In the next five years, maybe we’ll get 4K VR headsets and then 8K as well as wireless and see-through headsets,” he said.
